The Warding Stone
by phoenixgirl26
Summary: Harry Potter didn't realise how much his life would change when he discovered the Hogwarts warding stone. One shot.


Harry Potter had accidentally found the ward stone deep under Hogwarts. After he rescued Ginny Weasley from the chamber, he had returned the following day to have a look around. At first he figured there must be more to the legendary chamber of secrets than just a huge room with a large sculpture of Salazar Slytherin. But after climbing into the mouth of the sculpture, he found a small passage that the snake would never have used as it was too big.

Harry had to crawl through the passage until he came to a small room. Right in the middle of the room was a circle and in the middle of the circle was a large stone. There was a door off to one side, Harry realised that must be the normal entrance, he just had no idea why there was another that went to and from the chamber of secrets. The only thing he could come up with was Salazar Slytherin wanted a secret way in. Harry would never find out but that's exactly why there was another entrance. Slytherin wanted a way to change the wards around Hogwarts without the other three founders finding out.

Harry had studied the stone and the circle. The circle was made up of strange symbols, but some were also on the stone. He didn't know what the symbols were that were etched on and around the stone. But a bit of research told him the runes that were etched were the different wards that Hogwarts had. He also found out that some were not activated and hadn't been for a long time. One thing Harry did find out was there was a rune that when activated would kill anyone who would hurt or kill innocent students. The four founders wanted something that would protect the children so they combined their magic to create the rune that could read a person's intentions. It didn't just work on witches and wizards, it worked on muggles, even squibs. When the founders built Hogwarts it was mainly to teach young magicals, but it was also to protect them from the magic hating muggles.

The moment Harry read what this rune could do, which had been in a book in the restricted section. A book that was mainly on the founders and how they began Hogwarts. He knew it was time to activate this rune, that way no one within Hogwarts could hurt another student if the person had ill intentions, and the student was innocent of any wrong doing which could hurt or kill another.

The ward didn't go on things like bullying. You could still have fights with other kids at Hogwarts, which was normal when you had hundreds of kids spending months on end with each other. No, these wards were only meant to kill those who intended to kill or torture students. If it was an adult who was mistreating a student and his intentions were to hurt the child, whether physically or mentally, it would work on them too. The only students except from the way the rune worked was if they were protecting themselves and fought back and if their intentions weren't to hurt or injure the other. It was all based on intent.

Harry had no idea how the founders had worked this rune, but he was going to make sure it was working. He would also have to work on a way to hide it so Dumbledore couldn't stop the rune working. Dumbledore was too soft, Harry realised that after his first week at Hogwarts, as a first year. No, if kids were to be protected then he, Harry would make sure they were. Being abused and mistreated all his life made him very protective of other innocent kids. He knew not all kids were good, like Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, and many others, and not all from Slytherin. Even Ron could be a bit of a bully, which was why Harry had begun to spend less time with the red head and more time with Neville. He also realised he had slacked off from school work. He always did well in school, even if he made the Dursley's believe he didn't. Ron often wanted to skive off work and play chess. Finally Harry told him he would only play chess after he had finished his homework. When Ron had said to take divination as it was easy O, Harry knew he would not take that class. He needed to research the other electives. Now he knew about the stone and runes, he wanted to find out more about the ancient rune classes.

He got close to Neville when he asked the shy first year for some help in herbology. He got the help then realised Neville could use a little help as well, so Harry helped him with defence, charms and transfiguration. Now they were good friends.

Harry went back through some books on the founders, hoping he could find a way to protect the ward stone from anyone who would remove certain wards. These runes were made by the founders to protect the children. Harry was determined to make sure that happened.

It took sneaking into the restricted section every night using his invisibility cloak to finally find how to protect the ward stone from everyone, even the headmaster couldn't stop certain wards from doing what they were meant to do. He was lucky he found it as he would be leaving Hogwarts for the holidays in a couple of days.

While Harry had been working carefully and slowly on the rune to protect the stone from any who wanted to restrict what it was meant to do, he wondered if he could somehow use runes to stop the Dursley's. The founders invented this rune to protect children from everyone, witches, wizards, squibs and muggles.

Harry decided to do something he never thought he would do, at least until he was older. Using a needle and ink, he basically tattooed the same rune in between his fingers.

Since classes was finished, Harry slept late the following morning. He knew he would since he never got to bed until after two in the morning. Hermione had asked him the day before what he was doing and where he was going. Harry explained, again, that he needed some space. He never told anyone how he was treated by the Dursley's, but he did say he basically spent all his time alone, it's why he was quiet. She wanted to say something but she had learned by spending time with Harry that when he made up his mind, it was impossible to change. She also learned that just because she wanted to know something, didn't mean she had the right to know. If Harry didn't want to tell her, she really had no right to push.

Harry showered, dressed and left Gryffindor tower. No one was in there, he figured they still at breakfast or outside. Harry knew breakfast was about to finish, so he decided to head straight to the kitchens. He explained to the elves that he overslept so he missed breakfast. Instantly a small table was set up and elves placed food along with tea and juice on the table.

Harry had no idea that Dumbledore along with the rest of the staff were worried. Severus Snape along with seven Slytherin, two Ravenclaw's, one Gryffindor and one Hufflepuff student had died sometime through the night. There were no marks on them so they had no idea how they were killed. If the killing curse was used, you would see a small red spot. Poppy had gone over all the bodies, there wasn't a mark on them. She then tested their blood to see if they had been poisoned, again, nothing. Even though Albus would rather keep this quiet, he had no choice but to inform the aurors. Twenty aurors along with the head of the department of magical law enforcement arrived within an hour of the bodies being discovered. One of the aurors was also a healer, who did a thorough investigation on the bodies. Poppy wasn't surprised by this, she was only a medi-witch, healers had more knowledge, so she had been expecting it. The healer and Poppy spoke, Poppy showed the healer her results before the healer began his examination.

Harry left the kitchens and headed for the doors of the castle. That was when he realised something was going on. Two people were standing at the doors, like guards. They turned when they heard him approach.

'All students were ordered to remain outside.'

'Oh, sorry, I woke late, I just came down and was looking for my friends.'

The younger auror spotted the scar and gasped, 'We understand Mr Potter. Most students like to sleep later once their exams were over. How about you join the rest of the students outside.'

'Thanks. But um, are you some type of police?'

'We are aurors Mr Potter, which is like the muggle police, except we deal with dark witches and wizards.'

'Oh, is this about the chamber of secrets and Voldemort?'

'I beg your pardon,' the older wizard said.

'The chamber of secrets. Well, it was Voldemort, or his memory that he preserved in a diary that possessed a first year girl so she would open the chamber. She still has no memory of what she did. Poor thing, she was so scared when I found her.'

'You found her, where and when did this happen?'

'Um, I found her in the chamber. It's a long story but my friend Hermione, she had been petrified by the monster, she figured out what the monster was but before she could tell the teachers, she was petrified. I found some paper in her hand when I went to visit her in the hospital. It said basilisk, pipes, and there was information on how spiders are scared of the basilisk and how roosters can kill it. See, the spiders have been acting strange all year, and all Hagrid's roosters were killed. Anyway, my other friend, Ron, his sister was taken by the monster into the chamber. Really, it was the possession that made her go down to the chamber, ready to die.'

Both aurors knew this was serious and dangerous information. For now they continued to listen.

'Ron and I went to see the teachers to tell them what we know, but we found out about Ginny being taken. We decided to see if we could find her. See. I'm a parselmouth, and the basilisk is a snake, I'd been hearing it all year but I had no idea what it was. I thought if I told someone I was hearing voices they would think I was crazy. Anyway, Ron and I got Lockhart to go with us, since he was running away and tried to obliviate us. He ended up losing his memory when he stole Ron's wand which was broken and the spell backfired onto him. It brought down part of the roof, Ron was stuck on one side, me on the other and all I could do is go on. I found Ginny, and a weird sort of ghostly image of a teenage boy, around sixteen or seventeen. He was in Hogwarts robes with the Slytherin crest. I wanted him to help me with Ginny, but I soon found out he was the reason that the basilisk was hurting students. He put his name in the air, Tom Marvolo Riddle, then said he killed his muggle father and grandparent's before he changed his name. The letters began to move until they said I am Lord Voldemort. I realised I was talking to a young Voldemort, who I thought was named Tom. It was his diary from when he was a student.'

'Um, Mr Potter, this will need a lot of investigation. By the sound of it this could be a long story. I wish to inform Madam Bones so she can organise for you to be interviews, but it will not be able to happen until after the holidays begin.'

'That's going to be difficult. My muggle relatives hate anything to do with this world, they would not want you there, or allow me to go with you. They usually keep me locked up during the holidays, unless they plan to go away then they make me stay with the mad cat lady in the next street. But they hate me, so they won't let me leave to speak with you about this.'

'We will work on a way Mr Potter, do not concern yourself with the muggles,' the older auror said, but the younger one felt terrible that their hero was mistreated.

'Okay,' Harry shrugged, 'So can I go outside now?'

'Of course, but expect to hear from one of us in the next week. Oh, it would be best not to tell anyone that we spoke. It is now part of an official investigation.'

'I won't, I promise, I'm used to keeping stuff to myself,' Harry gave the two aurors a small smile then headed outside to find his friends.

Harry found Hermione and Neville sitting together with two girls from Hufflepuff. Ron was sitting with the other boys from the dorm. Harry joined Neville's group.

'Harry, where have you been?'

'I slept in, realised I missed breakfast so I spoke with the house elves, they got me some food. I was trying to find you when two aurors told me I had to come outside. What is going on?'

'We don't know, only that there are about twenty aurors here,' Hermione said.

'My aunt, she's the head of the DMLE, she's here as well but she couldn't tell me, only that it was serious. It must be really serious if my aunt is here,' Susan said, 'Sorry, I'm Susan Bones.'

'Harry Potter, and even though I knew your name from class, it's nice to meet you officially.'

'Hannah Abbott.'

'Nice to meet you as well. So how long has everyone been out here?'

'As soon as we left our house rooms we were directed out here. We got to eat breakfast picnic style,' Hannah said.

'Most of the staff are out here, except for Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape,' Hermione said.

'It must have something to do with the chamber and how you ended up petrified Hermione.'

'That is what we believe, but we were curious as to why now and not when the first person ended up petrified, or when Ginny was taken.'

'No idea, but I doubt we will find out. I might have killed the damn thing but they won't bother telling me anything.'

'You killed it?' Susan squeaked.

'Yeah, almost died, but Fawkes saved me with his tears. Hey, is Ginny okay, I haven't seen her?'

'She was taken home by her parent's. They are organising a mind healer for her, or so Ron said.'

'So they only took Ginny home, left the boys,' Harry stared around at all the students. He wondered if it was to do with the basilisk or if it was to do with the ward stone. He noticed a few missing Slytherin's, the really mean ones. But he also noticed that Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were not outside.

It took until later that day before the two aurors who were guarding the doors to the castle to finally get to speak with Madam Bones and the head auror Scrimgeour. They used their portable pensieve that the head auror brought with him to see the conversation the two aurors had with the boy who lived. They could see the bruises and cuts over his face, neck and hands. They were sure he had more but his robes covered him.

'Auror tonks, please speak with your mother. If our investigation proves he is being mistreated then your mother can be granted custody since she is blood related to him. It might be distantly but it is still there. I would also like to keep this quiet, I do not want Lucius Malfoy to have his wife, your mother's sister, try to gain custody of the boy who lived. Go now, report back the moment you speak with her.'

'Yes ma'am,' auror Tonks hurried away, the other three began to talk over what else they heard. Rufus was furious that he was not informed about the chamber of secrets had been opened. Amelia Bones was also furious. Apart from investigating how eleven students and one staff member died, she now had to investigate the staff since they did not inform her department about the chamber of secrets and the basilisk.

The students weren't allowed to return until dinner. It was then that they were told that Snape and some students died, mysteriously. They would be spending the following day questioning all students to find out what they know. They had to do it then as the students would be leaving the morning after.

As soon as Harry and his friends stepped into Gryffindor tower they all began asking what happened.

'So that's what happened to Hector Crawly,' Neville said as he sat down next to Harry.

'Crawly always gave me a strange feeling. I just figured he didn't like the attention I got because of the boy who lived thing. I wonder who the students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were.' Harry said.

'Why didn't you ask about the Slytherin's?' Hermione asked.

'I saw who was missing while we were outside,' Harry shrugged then when Hermione looked at him curiously as he named the ones who he noticed wasn't out there, 'It's strange though. They said they don't know what killed them only that they knew it wasn't the killing curse nor where they poisoned,' Harry had a feeling it was to do with the ward stone and the rune the founders created, but he would never tell anyone what he had done, or he could be blamed, even if all he did was activate the rune the founders wanted to use to protect the students. If someone found out, he could end up in jail, so Harry was going to make sure no one found out.

That was all anyone could talk about that night, but Harry did get pulled aside by Percy and the twins. They thanked him again for saving their sister. They also wanted to know what happened so Harry told them the story, right up to how Fawkes saved him using his tears then transported them all out of the chamber. Harry told the Weasley boys he hoped their sister didn't end up having any problems after what happened, especially when it was Voldemort that had been controlling her.

The following day seemed to stretch, but all the students and staff were questioned. When they finished with Harry, Amelia explained about the Tonks family, who have already worked on gaining custody of him since they were distantly related. She then explained that it will take up to two weeks before Andromeda Tonks could officially take him. It meant that Harry only had to put up with the Dursley's for two weeks. But Amelia explained that she was placing a few of the younger aurors near the Dursley's home, to make sure they behaved. The Dursley's would be informed when they picked Harry up at King's Cross station. Harry thanked Madam Bones, and also auror Tonks, who would soon be like his big sister.

One thing Harry knew, he was not going to tell anyone. Even though Madam Bones told him to keep it quiet, as too many might try to fight the change in who had custody. Harry knew the headmaster would try to stop it. He had explained to Harry why he had to remain with his aunt. But Harry knew the old man would not care even if he was being mistreated. This was the chance Harry had been hoping for, and he was going to make sure no one stopped him getting away from the Dursley's. If for any reason he was returned, he would leave, he wouldn't even return to Hogwarts. He had a feeling too many people would complain if the boy who lived refuse to stay in the wizarding world or return to Hogwarts. He would use his fame if he had to, so far he hadn't needed to use it. He hated the attention he got now, so he really didn't want to bring more attention to himself.

Halfway through the trip on the Hogwarts express, Harry realise that since Draco Malfoy had died, he and his friends didn't get any annoying visits.

'This has to be the most relaxing trip on the Hogwarts express I've ever had.'

'You've only had four,' Hermione said.

'Yeah, but the other three we had we got annoyed by Malfoy and his butt buddies,' that comment had most choked in shock, which made Harry laugh, 'Well, he always travelled around with those two, it makes sense they might have been more than friends.'

'That's a terrible thing to say,' Hermione said.

'It's not terrible if they were really gay Hermione. Maybe they were a bit young to be actually doing anything but there's nothing wrong with it.'

'It is wrong, it's against gods law.'

'You've got to be fucking kidding me. You sound like those bigoted purebloods, except you're bigoted against gay people. I've known two gay people, they're great, and their kind, considerate and make sure children are always looked after. Bigots don't do as much as they did, they are better people,' Harry glared at Hermione, 'Looks like our friendship is over. I just never thought it would or the reason behind it. I will stand up for people who are good, and especially if they want to protect innocent kids. I don't give a flying fuck if they want to have sex with the same gender, it's how a person is, how they act, what they do that makes a person good or bad. God doesn't exists, if he did then all of us would be burned at the stake.'

From that moment on it became quiet in the compartment. Hermione had begun to cry before she got up and ran from the compartment.

'Bigoted bitch,' Harry scowled.

'Um, what is gay and what was all that about?' Neville asked.

'Oh, must be a muggle thing. Okay, I'm not sure how all of you feel about this or if it's even around in the wizarding world.'

'Just explain Harry,' Neville said.

'Okay, ever heard the word homosexual?'

'No.'

'It means two men who have sex with each other, they are attracted to their own gender.'

'Oh, we have that but we don't have names. It's just normal for anyone to be attracted to anyone.'

'Oh, that's good to know, it's still not very accepted in the muggle world, because of people like Hermione. But they have categories, like two men are homosexual, two woman are lesbians, and if you like both, then you're bisexual. There might be more but I don't know much about them. Most people just call them gay,' Harry shrugged.

'You said you knew two.'

'Two teachers I had at my old school. One was the sports teacher, he knew I used to get beat up by my cousin and his friends, so he would allow me to spend time in his office during break. I could eat my lunch without Dudley taking it from me. The other was the librarian, she was great and again let me spend time in the library to get away from Dudley. She gave me money a few times when she realised I didn't have any lunch and since she knew by my size I didn't eat enough, she sent a letter to Petunia. From then on I was given lunch to bring to school, Dudley always took it, just to ruin it. That's when those teachers began to help.'

'So that's what you meant by they helped kids.'

'Yeah, they were trained to keep an eye out for kids who might be mistreated. They would work on legally having kids removed from abusive homes, sometimes they were blocked, which is what happened with me so they helped me out in other ways.'

Neville could tell Harry was uncomfortable talking about this so he changed the subject. One thing they spoke about was how Ron hadn't joined them. He had been spending most of his time with Dean and Seamus. Harry and Neville were both glad, Ron was annoying and a bully. He also tried to get them to let him copy from their homework, they refused and told him he had to do his own homework. If he kept asking they were going to speak with McGonagall and report him. From then on he hardly spent time with Harry. They weren't sure how Ron did in his end of year tests since he wasn't able to copy and neither Harry nor Neville ever saw Ron studying.

Harry said goodbye to Neville before walking through the barrier. He saw auror Tonks, or as he thought of her now, his big sister, standing a few feet in front of the Dursley's, who looked frightened.

'Hey sis,' Harry grinned making Tonks laughed before she hurried to give Harry a hug.

'Hey there little brother. Now I've explained how you will be guarded until the paperwork is finalised so they know not to try anything. I'll be here for the days, and auror Hammer will be here of a night. I figured I could help fill you in on the wizarding world since Hogwarts doesn't teach those classes anymore.'

'That would be great Tonks, thanks.'

'Come on then, I'll see you to the car then met you at the house.'

Harry nodded then walked beside Tonks towards the Dursley's. The moment he was around five feet away, the three Dursley's dropped. Tonks hurried over to them and discovered they were dead.

'What happened?'

'I don't know, but I need to let the aurors and obliviators know,' Tonks took a coin from her pocket, tapped it with her wand before she pulled out her fake muggle police badge. She forced all the onlookers away while keeping Harry close.

It was only ten minutes later when obliviators and aurors arrived. They secured the scene, cast the muggle repelling charm around them before the obliviators began to deal with the people who had seen all of them appear out of thin air. Madam Bones had also arrived, she needed to question Harry then work out for him to stay with the Tonks family before it was legal.

'Harry, I'm sure you're curious, but I'm sure you realise this looks suspicious.'

Harry sighed, 'I know, the moment the Dursley's died I thought there must be something about me that did it. The thing is, I was never near the others, apart from Crawly and that was only in the Gryffindor common room.'

'I believe there is something about you that may have affected those, but as you say, you were not in direct contact with all of them. If this was caused by you then they died later as they were not close enough. The trouble is, I'm not sure you were involved in any way, but for some reason the Dursley's all died the same way, at least it looks similar.'

'Dumbledore said I had a protection from my mother, because she sacrificed herself for me. He said that was the reason Quirrell died when he touched me.'

Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose, she realised there was something else her office wasn't notified about. She had been told Quirrell died due to some type of animal bite, which looked like a snake bite.

'As I said, I don't believe you had anything to do with what happened at Hogwarts. But if you do have some type of protection from your mother's sacrifice, I'm curious as to why they have been able to mistreat you before.'

'Maybe they decided to do what they threatened to do many times, kill me and hide my body.'

'Even though I do believe you, I have to ask officially. Is that real? Did they really threaten to kill you and hide your body?'

'Yes, from the time I was young, they often said they should have drowned me the moment they found me. I overheard them talking once saying they could use me to do all the work, so they decided they would keep me. But times when things broke, they said next time they would kill me for being freaky. They would hide my body then tell everyone I ran away.'

'I believe you. There is magic that works on intent. It's dangerous and the spells are not known to anyone but people like me or the unspeakables. Well, I will need a healer to examine you, just so it can be officially known that you did not have any type of poison on you, nor could you kill them with wandless magic.'

'Okay, but what happens after?'

'You will be going with auror Tonks to her parent's place. Until it is official, we are going to keep this quiet as part of our investigation. But if anyone does ask questions, you are staying with some distant relative, to get to know them.'

'I won't be telling anyone. Dumbledore already said I had to stay with the Dursley's even if I wasn't treated right. I would hate for him or someone else to put me with worse people.'

'That is why we are keeping this a secret, and using this investigation means no one outside the ones involved will find out about it. Even Andromeda and Ted can't know everything, not yet, not until the investigation is over.'

'I don't want to put them or anyone in danger, in case there is something wrong with me.'

'There is nothing wrong with you Harry. If your mother worked on some type of protection for you then all that will tell us is she was trying to save her baby's life, which any parent would do. Now come on, you, auror Tonks and I are going to see a healer friend of mine. She's used to keeping things secrets since I often bring her patients that need protecting.'

As Harry, Amelia and Tonks left, they missed seeing someone from the station watching them. She knew what she had to do, now she just had to talk her parent's into allowing her to quickly go to Diagon alley so she could send a letter by owl.

Harry was in a private room in a sealed ward with a healer, Madam Bones and Tonks. The healer explained to Harry that she would need to see every part of his body after she did her scans. She would give Harry some privacy, and even though he would be embarrassed, she was a healer and had seen everything there was to see.

Harry didn't like it, but he knew he had no choice. He just kept his mind on knowing he would never have to put up with the Dursley's again. He now knew the runes he did work on intent, the same that the founders invented, had worked on the Dursley's, which meant they planned to kill Harry, or serious hurt him.

Once the healer was finished with her scans and physical examination of Harry's body, he was able to dress. He came around the curtain that had been giving him privacy.

'Alright, the scan showed me just how much you have been mistreated since you were a baby. I will give you some potions which will rectify the damage. The scan did not show up any type of protection charms. Your body on the other hand did. Can I see you hand Harry, so I can show Madam Bones what I discovered?'

'So Lily Potter did give Harry some type of ill intent protection?' Amelia asked.

'She did, look,' the healer moved Harry's fingers apart then cast a spell to enlarge the symbols that were engraved in between his fingers, 'As I am a senior healer, I do know what some of these symbols mean, but not all of them. The ones I do know are for protection for the child.'

Amelia studied every rune symbol. She knew exactly what all of them were. What she didn't know was how Lily Potter had found these rune symbol's. They had been protected by the unspeakables for more than five hundred years. The person who becomes head of the department of magical law was always told, but they were bound by an oath to never reveal what they knew. If they broke the oath, their magic would be bound, for the rest of their lives.

'Yes, I would say the Dursley's realised how much trouble they could be in so they decided to get rid of Harry. Some criminals will believe if there is no body to be found they will get away with murder.'

'Does this mean I had something to do with Snape and the others?'

'You did not do anything Harry. Your mother made sure you were protected against anyone that planned to kill you. These runes are for intent, but only if the intent was for your death. It would explain how those muggles were able to mistreat you. She probably did not realise someone would place you with muggles and not with a wizarding family. I will use the full force of my office to find out just what your parent's wills stipulated when it came to you, their son. For now, this case can be close but marked confidential by the unspeakables.'

'Um…what happens if someone else wants me dead, will they die?'

'Yes, but if someone was willing to kill you Harry, then you not only saved your own life, but maybe others. If someone is going to kill one person, then usually they will kill others. Only the three of us along with the head unspeakable will know. Tell me though, didn't you ever wonder why you had these symbols in between your fingers?'

'I don't see symbols, I just see black marks. I figured I was born with them.'

'Due to an injury when he was three years old, it caused damage to his optic nerve. One of the potion I intend to give Harry will repair the damage.'

'Does that mean I won't need glasses anymore?'

'That's correct, you won't need glasses anymore. You may need them when you get older, like many do, but once that injury is healed, you will have perfect eyesight.'

Harry grinned, 'Thanks.'

'Come on, it's time for auror Tonks to get you home and settled. I will only need to speak with you when I need the information on the chamber of secrets and Quirrell, which won't be for a couple of weeks.'

Tonks took Harry to her parent's home, she introduced everyone then showed him to the room he would be using. One thing Harry knew straight away was he could tell these people would not hurt him. They seemed nice, just like their daughter.

After Harry had unpacked, and used the bathroom he went to find the Tonks family, 'Um,' he mumbled.

'Come sit down Harry,' Ted said with a smile, gesturing towards the seat at the dining table, 'I know it will take you some time to get comfortable with us, just remember, we are family, but family that does not intend to harm you, in any way.'

'I explained a little about the Dursley's,' Tonks said giving Harry a small smile.

'Oh, okay.'

'I knew your father, not well, but I knew him. There is no way he would allow his heir to be raised by muggles and in the muggle world,' Andromeda said, 'The Potter family is one of our oldest, you should have been raised in the wizarding world so you would learn what you need for when you become of age. How did you end up with the muggles?'

'Dumbledore put me there. He told me at the end of my first year. I asked if could stay somewhere else. He explained about some type of wards he put around the Dursley's place, it was linked to my mother's blood. I don't really know anything more than that.'

'He used blood wards?' Andy said with a scowl.

'By the sounds of it dear,' ted said but noticed Harry looked confused, 'Blood wards are considered dark magic. If blood is used the wrong way, it could harm or even kill. He must have taken some of your blood to set the wards.'

'Oh, well, Hagrid did say my scar was bleeding when he took me from the house that night.'

'Hagrid, as in the game's keeper of Hogwarts?' Andy asked.

'Um, yeah. Hagrid got me out of the house and took me to Dumbledore. That's all I know.'

'You-know-who had been there, for all we know his death eaters were there keeping watch. How would Hagrid be able to protect you when he can't use magic, or even own a wand?' Andy growled.

'Something is fishy, I believe we should speak with Madam Bones about this. She is already investigating how Harry ended up with the muggles. Let's forget about it now dear, it's dinner time, I'm sure Harry is hungry. Now Dora explained you need to take some potion before every meal.'

'Yeah, the healer said it will help repair the damage done by the Dursley's, it will also fix my eyesight.'

'Then it's time you had your first dose.'

Albus Dumbledore could not believe what he was reading. He had to work on some plans, but trying to get Amelia Bones to tell him anything would be nearly impossible. He already had enough on his plate, with the death of Severus and the students. Now Harry Potter's guardians were dead and the head of the DMLE had Harry, and Albus had no idea where the boy is. Albus was already upset that Harry had decided Ron Weasley was not his friend anymore. He had hoped to keep Harry close to the Weasley family as they supported Albus, and never questioned him. Now Harry had befriended Neville Longbottom. His grandmother did not support Albus and she had custody of her grandson.

It took Harry a few days but he was finally feeling comfortable with his new home and the Tonks family, his family. He really liked them, a lot, it was just that everything was different, and they also treated him as family.

'So you were told you had no family in the wizarding world?' Ted asked.

'Yeah, Dumbledore told me. He said I only had my Aunt Petunia who was my mother's sister. Hagrid did tell me that many wanted me but because some were death eaters it was safer to be put with the Dursley's. I asked him if he knew my parent's, and that was the day he took me shopping for my Hogwarts things.'

'Are you saying Hagrid took you to get your school supplies?' Andy asked.

'Yeah, see, the Dursley's kept destroying the letters so they ran. We ended up on some small island with a lighthouse. Hagrid found me there on my birthday, told me I was a wizard and he was to take me shopping. I really didn't believe him, not until we stepped into Diagon alley.'

'I will be speaking with the rest of the governors, minus Lucius Malfoy. It is Professor McGonagall's job to take all muggleborn or raised to introduce them our world and to Diagon alley. If she decided not to do her job then she will lose it. If she was forbidden to do her job then Dumbledore may lose his job. Many of us have been concerned about his decisions and believe it's time for him to go,' Andy said.

'Mum is one of the governors for Hogwarts Harry. But mum, when Madam Bones finishes her investigation you might have more reason to remove him. There have been some things that came to light about Hogwarts and none of it good. She can't tell you yet, not until she's finished investigating.'

'Then I will speak with the others about what I know now and we can begin to do our own investigation. Even though I do not wish anyone to die, Snape did not deserve to get off in the first place and if it wasn't for Dumbledore Snape would be in Azkaban with the other death eaters,' Andy growled. Ted took his wife's hand to calm her down. None of them like the way some death eaters paid their way out of Azkaban but Andy was passionate about it and never stopped trying to get people like Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape sent to Azkaban.

It was exactly two weeks that Andromeda and Ted was awarded legal custody of Harry Potter. Harry couldn't stop smiling. He had good people who actually wanted him, and he had a big sister.

Amelia along with Connie arrived one evening to finally get the full stories about Quirrell and the chamber of secrets. And maybe more.

'Before we get to Quirrell and the chamber, I need to inform you about what is about to happen. It will be in the Daily Prophet tomorrow. I finally found the Potter's will, but it also had a lot of other information. The secret keeper for the Potters was not Sirius Black, it was peter Pettigrew, and Albus Dumbledore cast the charm. We quietly removed Sirius from Azkaban and is now in our private ward at St Mungo's, with an auror guard until he can finally give his side of the story. He told me along with Rufus and Gawain what happened. It seems Peter killed the muggles, then cut his finger off before transforming into a rat, then he escaped leaving Sirius stunned and in amongst the bodies. Sirius is innocent, but due to the dementors he will be under the healer for at least six months. I was told he may never be the same, but he is sane, he just might have some problems, like forgetfulness or seemingly to stare at nothing. He is an animagus, it was thanks to finally being able to change that he kept his mind, but the dementors still caused some problems.'

'I will represent Sirius, then I will make sure the wizengamot along with those involved compensate Sirius for what they did,' Ted said.

'Who is Sirius?' Harry asked.

'He is my cousin, first cousin, he is also your godfather,' Andy said, 'We all believed he betrayed your family to Voldemort, we were told he confessed and the head of the DMLE had proof. I never wanted to believe Sirius would betray James, they were very close.'

'If his my godfather, does that mean I have to leave here?' Harry stared at Andy, Ted and Tonks.

'No, we are your legal guardians Harry, so even if Sirius was able to take you, he couldn't. We will allow him to visit you, as he did adore you when you were a baby,' Andy gave Harry a kindly smile before turning back to Amelia, 'Do you know what happened to Pettigrew?'

'We got him, he was hiding in his rat form with a wizarding family. They had no idea, we made sure of that so we decided to keep their names out of it. Peter is also hidden until after Sirius gives his statement, then Peter will have a trial.'

'So Sirius doesn't need to have a trial?' Ted asked.

'No, he was never officially charged or given a trial, so they can't hold him. He wants his statement done using veritaserum so no one can dispute the truth. Too many people were involved in his imprisonment.'

After they finished speaking about Sirius, Amelia finally began to ask Harry questions about Quirrell and the chamber. She was planning on taking his memories, as proof, but she needed to hear everything and she thought Andromeda and Ted should hear everything as well since they would now be responsible for Harry.

The more Harry spoke the angrier Andy, Ted, Tonks and Amelia got. They could not believe Albus Dumbledore put the lives of every student in danger, but also, none of the other staff informed the auror office.

'I will need a copy of this Amelia so I can get Albus out of Hogwarts, and maybe some of the other staff.'

'I will make sure you have an official copy of everything you need. I would suggest though that if for any reason he does not lose his job as headmaster that you withdraw Harry from Hogwarts. I will be doing the same with Susan. But Harry is the boy who lived, I doubt the minister along with most of the public would like to hear Harry cannot go to Hogwarts all because of Albus Dumbledore.'

'Very clever,' Ted said then looked at Harry, 'What do you think of that Harry? It's up to you as you are the boy who lived.'

'He needs to go, I knew that by the end of my first week of my first year, so if…well, using my fame will help, I'm all for it.'

'Thank you. It will have three quarters of the governors voting for his removal, along with Minerva and the other senior staff, unless they can prove with the use of veritaserum they had no knowledge. Minerva will go since she did not visit you as she was supposed to,' Andy said.

One question they had asked Harry had Amelia and Andromeda smirking at the answer. They will watch the memory so they had absolute proof, but once they had that then no one could deny the truth. It meant another death eater who got off would finally end up in Azkaban, where he belonged.

Harry only needed to add a few more things, then passed over his memories before he left the adults to continue talking. He already felt his life was looking up, he had family that cared and they were going to help make Hogwarts safer by getting rid of the people who didn't protect the students.

The wizarding world ended up shocked, and more than once. First Sirius Black was innocent, Peter Pettigrew was found guilty of betraying the Potters and killing the muggles. Second was Albus Dumbledore was arrested for giving false testimony about Sirius Black. He did try to argue his case which got him a very large fine, but not jail time. The third shock was when the governors sacked the entire staff of Hogwarts for placing the students in danger. Albus Dumbledore was again arrested for instigating the danger, so even if no one was sure he would go to Azkaban, he lost his three jobs. He was no longer headmaster of Hogwarts, he was no longer supreme mugwump of the international confederation of wizards and he was no long chief warlock. But more shocks came when it was discovered the Fudge had been accepting bribes, along with his staff, and all from Lucius Malfoy. Once it was known that it was Lucius Malfoy who caused a young student to end up possessed so the chamber of secrets was opened he was immediately arrested. Malfoy ended up having a new trial this time with the use of veritaserum.

Many at first tried to say Albus was set up, but when they heard the evidence and saw some memories, all his supporters, bar a few, turned their back on him. It was going to be a whole new Hogwarts and a whole new ministry.

Narcissa Malfoy ended up broke. Sirius had claimed the head of house and called for the dowry that was paid for her marriage. He could do that as she gave her loyalty to someone other than the head of the house Black. The same happened to Bellatrix Lestrange, even if she was in Azkaban, she lost all her money.

Because Harry had been spending time with Madam Bones, giving statements and showing memories, he got to spend more time with Susan Bones. She kept apologising for the way everyone treated Harry when they found out he was a parselmouth. Harry would not accept since he heard one of the other Hufflepuff's basically lying and talking the others into believing Harry was the heir of Slytherin. Susan did nothing wrong, so they ended up good friend. Neville often joined them since he was already friends with Harry.

Harry loved having Tonks as a big sister. She would teach him more about the wizarding world, but made the lessons fun. Andy and Ted also got Harry up to scratch, now you wouldn't know Harry was raised in the muggle world.

Harry did get to meet and spend time with Sirius. When Andy first heard that Sirius had asked Harry to speak with Dumbledore, she told Sirius that Harry will no longer have anything to do with him. She really went off at him, saying he already abandoned Harry once, now he was turning his back on his godson and supporting the man that caused Harry's terrible childhood. It took Sirius a few weeks to finally realise Albus had basically been using him to get close to Harry. He heard some of what Harry had gone through with the Dursley's, and at Hogwarts. Sirius ended up furious and said he would make sure Albus will never have anything to do with his godson. He would support Andy and Ted with any decisions about Harry's life as long as his godson had good people around him and a good life.

'I know you're nervous Harry, and you have reason to be, but remember, Hogwarts has all new staff, and all have been thoroughly checked. They all have their masters in their chosen subjects, and none of them are dark. But if for any reason you think there is something wrong, contact me straight away.'

'I will Aunt Andy, but I know it's finally going to be okay,' Harry hugged Andy, 'I'm going to miss you.'

'I will miss you as well,' Andy kissed Harry's forehead, 'You'll be home in two weeks though so I'm sure you'll be too busy to miss me, and Ted and Dora.'

'I'll miss you know matter how busy I am.'

Andy smiled then wiped a tear from Harry's cheek, 'Go on, it's time now to really enjoy your time at Hogwarts, and you helped all this happen.'

Harry gave Andy another hug before he hurried onto the train and into the compartment with Neville, Susan and Hannah. The four of them hung out the window, waving and blowing kisses and didn't stop until the train went around the bend.

'It's going to be a whole new Hogwarts, so even though we're third years now, we have no idea how it's going to be,' Hannah said.

'We know a couple of teachers and we know Neville's gran is headmistress, but that's all we know,' Harry shrugged.

'And it's still Hogwarts, we'll still be learning things like charms, so really, it's just who will be teaching us,' Susan said.

No one ever found out that Harry was the main reason so much had changed. Between Andy, Ted and Amelia, they made sure to keep Harry's name out of it. Even the files about the investigation never mentioned Harry's name. The only time Harry's name did come into it, was how he had saved Ginny Weasley's life and killed the Slytherin's monster. The governors also made sure the basilisk was removed, it would be rendered down, and sold. Harry would receive the bulk of the money, but Harry said the victims should also receive some. Ted was going to make sure that the family of Myrtle was compensated, along with Ginny, Hermione, Colin, Justin and even Filch. Filch might be gone from Hogwarts, but he did suffer when his cat had been petrified.

'I wonder why they decided to give us the option of going home every second weekend, if we want to?' Hannah asked.

'Andy and Ted said that more people were turning down their spots at Hogwarts because of how restricted it was. Also, with muggle raised, they liked to do things like sports or other activities after school. I always wanted to learn how to play an instrument, the Dursley's would never pay for that, but Ted and Andy are going to work that out during the next lot of holidays.'

'I suppose with more people connected to the muggle world things would need to change. Tradition is all well and good, but our world had to keep moving forward or it would die,' Neville said.

'The muggle world has advanced so much, especially in the last fifty years or so. Me and Ted were talking about it and knew things would need to change or the wizarding world wouldn't be able to stay hidden from the muggles,' Harry said.

The four friends kept talking during the train ride. One thing they noticed though, there was no trouble and they had seen two adults walking up and down the train. They realised someone had finally worked out that leaving hundreds of kids alone for hours and confined to a train was dangerous. Before the only adults on the train was the lady with the cart and the train driver. They also liked the fact that you could now get a proper lunch on the train, where before it was mainly sweets.

As soon as the four friends entered the hall the realised there were more changes. There were no longer house tables, but heaps of round tables. The new headmistress explained that students could sit anywhere from now on.

Harry, Neville, Susan and Hannah all grinned then hurried to a table where they ended up sitting with students from other houses as well. Harry always knew not all Slytherin's were bad, it was just Snape, Malfoy, Parkinson, and a few others that always caused trouble. So they sat with three Slytherin's, and all seemed friendly.

Harry and Neville did notice that Hermione and Ron were sitting together, neither looked happy, and they glared at Harry. He didn't care, he hated Hermione for her bigotry, and Ron was a bully. He had made new friends, and they were all great. So much had changed in his life, and it all started when he discovered the Hogwarts ward stone. Even though he really cared about his new family, he knew he could never tell them he had activated some old wards which is why Snape and the others died.

Harry's life went from dangerous and miserable, to finally having a family and good friends. Hogwarts had changed so now there would be no more danger, but also it would have decent teachers who actually knew how to teach.

Harry couldn't stop smiling as he stared around the great hall. The trouble makers were gone. The new teachers looked happy, just as most of the students did. Naturally there will always be problems, students fighting or getting into trouble. Now though, they had staff who would investigate and find out exactly who was in the wrong.

To Harry, life couldn't get better.

The end:


End file.
